Prof. Abdul Shakoor Shah
Fasting is one of the five essential masts in Islam. It is a universal foundation because the worldwide religions also espoused fasting in some forms as the chief means of controlling and killing passions. The Celts, the Romans, the Babylonians and the Assyrians used to practice Fasting. The philosophers, Skeptic, Stoic, Pythagorean or Neoplantonic recommended fasting. The adherents of Hinduism, Jainism, Confucius, Jews, Christians and Zoroaster also practiced it. Few variants are observed in methods, regularity and timing. Fasting can be considered as a well being program to achieve patience, strong will, righteousness, sincerity, good manners, discipline, and better sense of prestige, better dieting habits, and many other physical and spiritual benefits of human being in order to ascertain peace, opulence and sustainable development of the society. Fasting helps in gaining perfection in all activities of our worldly life. In the past, fasting was resorted to as a sign of woe, mourning or for memorial of a great event. Islam eliminated this pantheistic idea and presented an exceedingly developed vitality. The primary goal of fasting is to spawn power in human body and mind which can manage rowdy obsession. The catchphrase at the end of the tradition about refraining from dishonesty and viciousness and squabbling and sacrilegious word makes it vivid that the special blessing of fasting are only for those who, in addition to spurning food and drink and abstaining from sexual fulfillment, evade all sullied and detrimental things. Fasting helps in acquiring Taqwa (Fearness and love of Allah. It helps in achieving tolerance and strong will. Allah has declared patience more than seventy times in the Holy Qur’an. Fasting assists in endeavor for Ihsaan (Righteousness and sincerity) and avoiding riyaa’ (showing off). It assists in purification of etiquette, principally those related to straightforwardness and ejecting reliance. Fasting supports being more generous. It helps in comprehending the unison of the Muslim Ummah. Fasting reins passions which are the root of all evils, and this can be triggered by the scheme of fasting. Fasting shines the soul. It rejuvenates the soul and brings liveliness from sluggish state, while disproportionate eating makes it blind and dark just as excessive water destroys crops. An empty stomach is, however, a spring of wisdom. This has been the experience of many virtuous divines. Fasting supplies savor in prayer. A food stuck belly can never savor the syrupiness of prayers and incantations. His prayers are no deeper than the skin. Fasting vanishes pseudo sense of kudos and smugness because a hungry man finds himself fragile and unsurprisingly turns towards One who is strong. Hunger thus makes a man modest and turns the mind towards the Almighty for help. Fasting saves time and trouble as it decreases the duration of sleep and thus a great deal of time is saved for work. It puts aside finance as it saves expenses on food and other redundant pleasures and thus helps the economy. On the other hand fasting also results in economic mobility during Ramadan. Fasting vastly donates to the conservation of health. It educated parity of human beings which is not even witnessed in prayer. A king may pray with a beggar in the mosque but at home he may lead quite a different life fasting, however, puts all on the same piteous condition of hunger. Fasting instructs empathy for the hungry. Fasting endows the rich with sagacity and logic of sensing hunger of the poor. It instructs us in moral discipline. Truly it works like a science lab oblivious of social ranks and positions to undergo tough trials. It creates endurance in us to bear the trial and tribulations of life as well as strengthens our will power and resistance. During fasting we experience the condition of millions of deserving, poor and starving people in the world. Fasting is also very essential for vanishing poverty from our society. The act of paying Zakat and Sadaqa play a vital role in helping the poor and the needy. Everyone turns generous and becomes angelic during this sacred month. One act of good deed is rewarded multi times by God during Ramadan which induces us to rang out for good deeds. Fasting creates and encourages humanitarian society. It banishes inequality and triggers equality. It is the best way to put off our social ranks and tags and align ourselves with others. Fasting also provides us the opportunity of strengthening family bonds as much of our schedule is opposite to other family members. Fasting provides us a chance to sit on one table for Iftar and Sehri. Fasting is also a source of education for us. We learn a lot about Islam, Islamic values, worshiping, charity, generosity and many more. It also gives us the chance of interaction with others in the isolated world of technology. Through tradition of Iftar invitation, our social bond becomes stronger. Fasting also strengthens the neighborhood as most neighbors exchange food items with others. It also enlivens unity in Muslim world and makes them vibrant. In short it is not possible to sum up the benefits of Fasting even on a social level. Fasting is a gift from God, we must avail ourselves all the possible blessings of Allah Almighty.
